{"id":7846,"date":"2024-02-11T23:38:29","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T02:38:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shreveministries.org\/wp2\/?p=7846"},"modified":"2024-06-05T23:59:01","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T02:59:01","slug":"the-two-commandments-of-the-new-covenant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shreveministries.org\/wp2\/2024\/02\/the-two-commandments-of-the-new-covenant\/","title":{"rendered":"The Two Commandments of the New Covenant"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Ten Commandments are a primary part of our spiritual foundation. Bible believers often display them in their churches, businesses, and homes in an effort to influence others toward righteousness. God Himself introduced them in a spectacular display, proclaiming them from Mount Sinai with His thunderous voice and engraving them on tablets of stone with His fiery finger. They should be deeply respected. However, they are part of \u201cthe Law,\u201d a system of religious, moral and lifestyle demands from the Old Covenant that Paul later called \u201cthe ministry of condemnation\u201d and \u201cthe ministry of death\u201d (2 Cor. 3:7-9).<\/p>\n<p>Have you ever noticed that eight of those ten commands (80%) are negative\u2014telling us what NOT to do? But the Messiah introduced a new approach that is 100% positive\u2014promoting, not a sin-conscious mindset, but a God-conscious celebration of life. The New Covenant involves a transition from religion to relationship, from rules to rebirth\u2014that spiritual awakening that takes place when we invite Jesus into our hearts (see Jn. 3:1-7, Eph. 3:17). From that point forward, the \u201cTwo Commandments of the New Covenant\u201d should light up our lives, like the glorious dawning of a new day.<\/p>\n<p><strong>THE NATURE OF THE NEW COVENANT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>An expert in the Law of Moses once asked Jesus, \u201cTeacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?\u201d (Mt. 22:36). Bypassing 611 other commandments in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible), the Son of man replied:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cYOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.<\/em><em>This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<em>(Mt. 22:37-40, quoting from Dt. 6:5, Lev. 19:18).<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The last statement means all other commandments are upheld by these two. If we sincerely love God and love others, we will automatically refrain from lying, stealing, killing, indulging in immoral behavior, dishonoring God or harming any fellow human being. No wonder the Scripture maintains \u201clove is the fulfillment of the Law\u201d and \u201cthe more excellent way\u201d (Ro. 13:10, 1 Cor. 12:31).<\/p>\n<p><strong>THE SYMBOL OF THE CROSS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When Jesus said, \u201cOn these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets,\u201d on a higher, symbolic level, He also could have been referring to Himself. Being the Word \u201cmade flesh,\u201d He was actually the embodiment of the Law and the prophets (Jn. 1:14). So, in a sense, it wasn\u2019t just wooden beams that lifted the Savior up between heaven and earth (for He could have escaped the cruelty of the cross if He had chosen to do so); it was the constraint of these two love commandments:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The vertical beam<\/strong>\u2014loving the Father<\/li>\n<li><strong>The horizontal beam<\/strong>\u2014loving a fallen human race<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These two heart attitudes will hold us to the cross too, if we choose to be \u201ccrucified with Christ\u201d (Gal. 2:20). As we make personal sacrifices to serve God and others, we might be found confessing, \u201cThe love of Christ compels us\u201d (2 Cor. 5:14). Those who truly live this way often become God\u2019s means of reclaiming and restoring this world\u2014even to the point of being history makers and world changers. No wonder Jesus said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cThere is no other commandment greater than these\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(Mk. 12:31).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>JESUS SIMPLIFIED THE LAW<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jesus was God \u201cmanifested in the flesh\u201d (1 Tim. 3:16). You would think Deity visiting humanity would make the practice of religion more detailed, more complicated, more demanding. Instead, Jesus simplified it. In a sense, He took the Ten Commandments, inscribed on two tablets of stone, and reduced them to Two Commandments inscribed on one tablet of stone\u2014the \u201ctablet\u201d of the human heart (Pr. 3:3; 7:3).<\/p>\n<p>Instead of the external demand of religious regulations, Jesus introduced the awesome blessing of internal transformation, a \u201cnew and living way\u201d that would impart to His own forgiveness and an infilling of the divine nature (Heb. 10:20). Once this happens, we are called to \u201cwalk in love,\u201d imitating the character of the firstborn Son, forgiving one another even as God in Christ has forgiven you\u201d (Eph. 4:32; 5:1-2).<\/p>\n<p>This is \u201cthe simplicity that is in Christ\u201d (2 Cor. 11:3).<\/p>\n<p><strong>JESUS EXALTED THE LAW<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Isaiah also foretold the Messiah would \u201cexalt the law and make it honorable\u201d (Is. 42:21). To exalt means to elevate or to increase in quality or power. Jesus accomplished this\u2014He elevated the law to a higher, more honorable, more powerful place, by taking it from a primary emphasis of outer actions to a primary emphasis of inner attitudes (see Mt 5:21-28, 1 Jn. 3:14-15; 4:7-21). Old Testament prophets foresaw this wonderful era when the Most High would supernaturally empower both Jews and Gentiles to be true \u201clovers of God\u201d (2 Tim. 3:4).<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Moses predicted: <em>\u201cAnd the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live\u201d<\/em> (Dt. 30:6).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Jeremiah prophesied,\u00a0<em>\u201cBehold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a New Covenant . . . I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts\u201d<\/em> (Jer. 31:31, 33).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ezekiel foretold,\u00a0<em>\u201cThus says the Lord God . . . I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(Ezk. 36:22, 26).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So this was God\u2019s idea, not ours\u2014something He initiated, and a gift He delights to give. Certainly there were many under the Old Covenant who had a passion to love and serve the God of Abraham, but now this capacity has been dramatically increased, for \u201cthe love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us\u201d (Ro. 5:5, see Ro. 8:15, Gal. 4:6).<\/p>\n<p><strong>GOD\u2019S PERSONALITY PERMEATES HIS KINGDOM<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the Gospel of Mark, a scribe agreed with this revelation, saying to Jesus:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cWell said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God . . . And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one\u2019s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(Mk. 12:32-33).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>When Jesus heard him express such God-breathed wisdom, He said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cYou are not far from the kingdom of God.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>God\u2019s kingdom is that invisible, spiritual domain in which the Creator dwells. It was not accessible to people until the resurrection and ascension of the Crucified One. For to enter that kingdom, a person must be cleansed from sin by the blood of Jesus and born of the Spirit (born again)\u2014something Titus 3:5 calls, \u201cthe washing of regeneration.\u201d When the Holy Spirit fell in the upper room and filled 120 believers, it happened\u2014and supernaturally they were \u201c<em>translated . . . into the kingdom of God\u2019s dear Son<\/em>\u201d (Col. 1:13 KJV).<\/p>\n<p>From that day forward, all who genuinely repent and believe in the Son of God have access into that kingdom where they encounter the \u201clove of Christ which passes knowledge\u201d (Eph. 3:19). When He was on the earth, Jesus prayed that believers would be filled with this divine love, saying:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0&#8220;O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them<\/em>\u201d (Jn. 17:25-26).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Now, all we need to do is receive Jesus into our hearts and make Him Lord of our lives. Then we are encouraged to believe in His promises and accept the inheritance that has already been laid up for us, including this awe-inspiring and inexpressible gift of everlasting love.<\/p>\n<p>Mike Shreve<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ten Commandments are a primary part of our spiritual foundation. Bible believers often display them in their churches, businesses, and homes in an effort to influence others toward righteousness. God Himself introduced them in a spectacular display, proclaiming them from Mount Sinai with His thunderous voice and engraving them on tablets of stone with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mike","category-other-teachings"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shreveministries.org\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/A-GIFT-TO-GOD-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shreveministries.org\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shreveministries.org\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shreveministries.org\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shreveministries.org\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shreveministries.org\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7846"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/shreveministries.org\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8658,"href":"https:\/\/shreveministries.org\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7846\/revisions\/8658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shreveministries.org\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shreveministries.org\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shreveministries.org\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shreveministries.org\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}